2 New Races: Are They Balanced Against Each Other?


Homebrew and House Rules


I need some input from my fellow Paizonians. I have created two new races, known generally as Catmen and Ratmen (these names are just a placeholder).


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CATMEN RACIAL TRAITS

  • +4 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength, -2 Wisdom; Catmen are extremely agile and quick and are good at manipulating others, but they aren’t as strong as other humanoids and are quick to act without thinking.
  • Medium: As Medium creatures, catmen have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  • Catmen base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Low-light Vision: Catmen can four times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  • Weapon Proficiency: Catmen receive the Simple Weapon Proficiency feats for the dagger and quarterstaff as bonus feats. Catmen also receive Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the rapier and scimitar as bonus feats.
  • +2 racial bonus on Balance and Tumble checks.
  • +2 racial bonus on Reflex saving throws: Catmen are agile and athletic, allowing them a better chance to move out of harms way.
  • Tooth & Claw: Catmen has claws and teeth that allow them to deal 1d6 points of lethal damage with a successful unarmed strike. The ratmen can only make one unarmed attack per round, using either their claw or bite attack.
  • Keen Scent: Catmen have a better sense of smell than humans do, and are often more able to distinguish humans from each other by scent than by sight. As a feat, a catmen with a Wisdom score of 11 or higher can acquire the Scent quality; one that does can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes and track by sense of smell. Catmen with the Scent special quality can detect opponents by sense of smell as a free action, generally within 30 feet. If the opponent is upwind, the range is 60 feet. If it is downwind the range is 15 feet. Catmen can detect strong scents such as smoke or rotting garbage, at twice these ranges. Catmen can detect overpowering scents such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench at three times these ranges. Catmen can detect another creature’s presence, but not its specific location. Noting the direction of the scent is a move-equivalent action. If the catmen moves within 5 feet of the scent’s source, it can pinpoint it. Catmen that tracks by scent of smell can do so by making Perception checks to find or follow tracks. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10. The DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures and the age of the smell. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Track feat. Catmen tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility. Water, particularly running water, ruins a trail. False, powerful odors can easily mask other scents. The presence of such an odor completely spoils the ability to properly detect or identify creatures and the base Survival DC to track becomes 20 rather than 10. Catmen with the Scent special quality can identify familiar odors just as humans do with familiar sights.
  • Nimble: Catmen ignore the first 10 feet from any fall (allowing them to treat a 10 foot fall like it never happened), in addition they only take damage for every 20 feet thereafter, instead of the normal 10. The hands and feet of the catmen must be empty so that when they land they can evenly distribute the shock of the fall (using all fours).
  • Whiskers: All catmen have whiskers, which gives them two distinct abilities; to be able to tell which direction the wind is coming from and can determine, by sense of touch, if they can fit in a cramped space. The whiskers of catmen tell it from exactly which direction the wind is coming from and the speed of it. By sensing how fast the wind is, the catmen is possibly alerted to weather dangers well before seeing any noticeable change in the weather. When a catmen attempts to enter a space smaller than the width of their body, they feel their whiskers bend; signaling them as to how exactly smaller the entry is, compared to the width of their body. If the opening is smaller than half their body width, catmen will avoid squeezing into it.
  • Automatic Languages: Catmen and the human Common regional dialect.
  • Bonus Languages: Common (any neighboring regional dialect), Dwarven, Elven, and Ratmen.


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RATMEN RACIAL TRAITS

  • +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -4 Charisma; Ratmen are quick, resilient and attentive but are weak and lack social etiquette and don’t give much attention to their grooming and dressing habits.
  • Small: As a Small creatures, ratmen gain a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and their lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
  • Ratmen base land speed is 30 feet.
  • Low-light Vision: Ratmen can three times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
  • + 2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Climb checks. The claws and paws of ratmen make them better adept at using these skills.
  • +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks. Ratmen are experts at being noiseless and sneaking.
  • +1 racial bonus on all saving throws: Ratmen are surprisingly capable of avoiding mishaps.
  • +2 racial bonus against disease and poison. Ratmen are rarely are affected from illness and toxins. This bonus stacks with the ratmen +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
  • +4 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks with the ratmen +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
  • Tooth & Claw: The ratmen has claws and teeth that allow them to deal 1d4 points of lethal damage with a successful unarmed strike. The ratmen can only make one unarmed attack per round, using either their claw or bite attack.
  • Keen Scent: Ratmen have a better sense of smell than humans do, and are often more able to distinguish humans from each other by scent than by sight. As a feat, ratmen with a Wisdom score of 11 or higher can acquire the Scent quality; one that does can detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes and track by sense of smell. Ratmen with the Scent special quality can detect opponents by sense of smell as a free action, generally within 30 feet. If the opponent is upwind, the range is 60 feet. If it is downwind the range is 15 feet. Ratmen can detect strong scents such as smoke or rotting garbage, at twice these ranges. Ratmen can detect overpowering scents such as skunk musk or troglodyte stench at three times these ranges. Ratmen can detect another creature’s presence, but not its specific location. Noting the direction of the scent is a move-equivalent action. If the ratmen moves within 5 feet of the scent’s source, it can pinpoint it. Ratmen that tracks by scent of smell can do so by making Perception checks to find or follow tracks. The typical DC for a fresh trail is 10. The DC increases or decreases depending on how strong the quarry’s odor is, the number of creatures and the age of the smell. For each hour that the trail is cold, the DC increases by 2. The ability otherwise follows the rules for the Track feat. Ratmen tracking by scent ignore the effects of surface conditions and poor visibility. Water, particularly running water, ruins a trail. False, powerful odors can easily mask other scents. The presence of such an odor completely spoils the ability to properly detect or identify creatures and the base Survival DC to track becomes 20 rather than 10. Ratmen with the Scent special quality can identify familiar odors just as humans do with familiar sights.
  • Whiskers: All ratmen have whiskers, which gives them two distinct abilities; to be able to tell which direction the wind is coming from and can determine, by sense of touch, if they can fit in a cramped space. The whiskers of ratmen tell it from exactly which direction the wind is coming from and the speed of it. By sensing how fast the wind is, the ratmen is possibly alerted to weather dangers well before seeing any noticeable change in the weather. When a ratmen attempts to enter a space smaller than the width of their body, they feel their whiskers bend; signaling them as to how exactly smaller the entry is, compared to the width of their body. If the opening is smaller than half their body width, ratmen will avoid squeezing into it.
  • Automatic Languages: Ratmen and the human Common regional dialect.
  • Bonus Languages: Common (any neighboring regional dialect), Ratmen, Dwarven and Elven.


Twin Agate Dragons wrote:
I need some input from my fellow Paizonians. I have created two new races, known generally as Catmen and Ratmen (these names are just a placeholder).

I keep suggesting the Race Creation Cookbook for those that are looking to create balanced races. Just a thought...


LMPjr007 wrote:
Twin Agate Dragons wrote:
I need some input from my fellow Paizonians. I have created two new races, known generally as Catmen and Ratmen (these names are just a placeholder).
I keep suggesting the Race Creation Cookbook for those that are looking to create balanced races. Just a thought...

My funds are all tied up until February, so it is going to have to wait.


Races are personal choices so I will not suggest changes but I will give some general feedback.

Whiskers could be dropped, they can be left in the flavor text but they do not need a bullet point.

Why does the +2, +2, -2 not appeal to you? are +4 and -4 needed?

Why do ratmen move at 30 feet, is that a typo?

Why is the low light vision different between the two races?

Why not just give both races the improved unarmed strike feat for free to account for their claws?

Why base scent off of wisdom? The catmen have a -2 to wisdom so they would rarely qualify, and ratmen with a +2 qualify almost for free.

If you want to take a look at the dreamscarredpress messageboards under their pathfinder psionic races playtest you can see some of the choices they made and the reasoning for race design.


I was taught that when creating races to go by a simple system for ability modifiers.

Keep it within the range of 0.5-1.5

Thus it works like this

Every +2 to a Physical ability score nets a 1
Same applies for negatives, -2 = -1 point.

Every +2 to a Mental Ability Score nets you a 0.5.
Same for negatives = -0.5

Thus the catman for example.

+4 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Strength, -2 Wisdom;
2 points, 0.5 points, -1 points, -0.5 points. = 1 Point.

1 Point = Good, NO LA, balanced ability modifiers.

I dunno, thought that I'd throw this in there.


Remove the scent ability descriptions for one, it takes up a lot of space and makes the class seem more complicated as it is.

Aside from that, it's not a straight out, so it's just more pointless reading.

I'd say just keep it listed that the have the option to acquire the scent ability if they have the requirements, the scent ability is located in the PF Core Book.

Also, for your cat men. Their Balance and Tumble bonus should be switched to Acrobatics.
Edit --------------
Well, I covered the ability scores.

So long as you keep them within the 0.5 - 1.5 limit (Which he has). It's good,I covered the balance and tumble, covered the large text bumpers of scent.

As for the movement speed of the ratman, hey, maybe he can scurry. I don't know, but aside from that, Goblins have a movespeed of 30 ft, and they are small. Just cause you're small, doesn't mean you can't be fast.

Go outside right now and try to chase down a squirrel.

Edit =========
I disagree from a belief point on the fear bonus for ratmen. I always see rats are cautious paranoid little guys, not brave I'ma kick your ass types.

If you pick a mouse now... that's a different story. "FOR REDWALL!!"

Additional Information!
Are you aware that Adamant created a Rat-humanoid race for Pathfinder in the Tome of Secrets? Now normally I wouldn't recommend the ToS as it's not a good book in general, but rather has a few good bits and pieces in it. Most of the things in it are not well made. The Knight or Ogre, or was it Half-Ogre for example. They are really bad or OverPowered.

Anyway.. I could check that out and give you some pointers... one moment..... Alright, checked it out, nothing useful there, but did make me agree that you did a better job for attributes(abilities)than they.

I have some suggestions now though.

Take away the acrobatics bonus and replace it with racial bonuses to both swim and climb. Then as for the whiskers.. I'd be thinking of possibly removing it all together, don't get me wrong, it's not O.P., not IMO, and it's a rather small bonus effect that works.

but perhaps you could give them the feat Skill Focus (Perception), just a random thought.

If ya wanna keep the whisker ability, tis not a problem at all, BUT PLEASE.

Reword it, and I really dislike that it works with the tight spaces, seems like pointless fluff/reading.

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